Kevin Garratt joined Ecclesbourne third year in 1960, as his family prepared to move to the village. He recalled: “I hated it, partly because I was leaving my Chaddesden friends and initially had to travel a long distance each day, but mainly because I found Ecclesbourne an unwelcoming place, with expectations seemingly beyond me.

“My early class position in most subjects was bottom or thereabouts. ‘The trouble with you Garratt,’ never Kevin, ‘is that you have a massive inferiority complex,’ said my supercilious maths teacher. ‘I suppose it’s because you are inferior’. It got an easy laugh and boosted my confidence no end.

“One poor, harassed teacher did vainly try to help by giving me out-of-hours Latin lessons on the No 2 bus between Derby and Duffield. Imagine my shame and the bewilderment of other passengers. I soon learned to dodge her by hiding in the cigarette fug on the upper deck.

The entire cohort of Ecclesbourne School, Duffield, in 1957, its very first year

“After a period of quite adventurous truanting, things improved. I made friends, started to work harder and discovered not all the staff were mad or bad. I did pretty well at O Levels (but not in Latin – a language which remained all Greek to me).

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“I have mixed feelings about early Ecclesbourne. It was very snobbish. All that fuss about wearing the absolutely correct items of school uniform. The singing of the ludicrous school song (librettist Donald Redfearn, headmaster). The disapproval of those wanting to play non-school sports such as soccer.

“The mind-numbing boredom of Speech Day. And, yet, if you were bright and compliant it got you good exam results.”

Anita Maidens, nee Bradley, of West Hallam, also had mixed memories of her time at the school. She said: “It was very interesting to see the photo of the very first intake, although my blood still ran cold seeing certain teachers’ faces and remembering being quite frightened of a couple of them.

Two of the earliest buildings at at Ecclesbourne School, Duffield

“I distinctly remember on more than one occasion sitting at my desk working and having to duck as a piece of chalk or even a chalk eraser flew over my head, aimed at the unruly lads on the back row. Sometimes there was contact, sometimes not!

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“One thing we didn’t have to worry about in the 60s was the hassle you get nowadays with parking outside the school, as you either lived locally and walked, or you went home on one of several school buses, – unless, of course, you were in detention and had to do Latin declensions until 5pm.

“The only time I got detention was for wearing my beret ‘at a jaunty angle’, but then it was nigh on impossible to balance it on top of back-combed hair! It was a strict school, both in its uniform and its teaching methods, but it gave me a sound education, and I will always be grateful for that.”

Pupils on an Ecclesbourne School, Duffield, trip in the early 1960s. From left, John Taylor, Andrew Gibson, Peter Bennett, Neil Connor and Stefan Buczacki

Another former pupil, Cindy Boulton-Lear added her memories to our Facebook post about the school’s 60th birthday. She recalled star pupil Peter Bennett, who died in a car accident. She said: “Peter lived just a few doors down from us in Allestree. I started at Ecclesbourne in 1960, my sister in 1961 and my cousin in 1958. Lots of memories, both good and bad.

“Peter was one of the nicest boys imaginable and would have grown up to have made a wonderful father and husband.”